


Burn So Bright

by smalltrolven



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Established Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Established Relationship, Jossed, M/M, Season/Series 13, Season/Series 13 Speculation, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-10 11:16:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12298119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smalltrolven/pseuds/smalltrolven
Summary: The Winchester brothers need some help figuring out what to do with Jack, the newly born nephilim son of Lucifer.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beware of s12 spoilers, this story takes place immediately post episode 12.23 “All Along the Watchtower.” This was mostly written before the trailers for season 13 were released, so consider this “pre-Jossed” from the get-go.  
> Not my characters, only my words. Enochian translations from [here](https://www.sinleb.com/enochian/eng_trans.php), my usage is of course not at all John Dee approved.

_“Might and wrong combined, like iron magnetized, are endowed with irresistible attraction.”_   
_― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables_

Dean couldn't think, couldn't breathe, his mother was gone again. Just plain gone into thin air. No not thin air, stuck in that horrible alternative blasted-out world. The one where Lucifer was, where Crowley had died.The one where at least there was a Bobby. That's all he could hope for now, that and knowing Mary was a kick-ass fighter who could probably (hopefully) survive.

He looked down at Castiel's dead form in front of him and gently closed the open eyelids. Castiel had always came back to them somehow. God or Chuck or whoever was in charge would probably do that again. And if not...well, both he and Sam had been realizing lately, very reluctantly, that Cas however much of a friend and brother-in-arms he was to them could be a real adversary sometimes. But damn, it was hard to lose him again, especially when things were so messed up.

Dean had a list that he always chewed over in his darkest hours and this was definitely one of the darkest. At the top at that list was the horrible moment when Cas had reached out and touched Sam's forehead breaking the wall that Death had constructed to save his little brother from the onslaught of his memories of Hell, and Lucifer specifically. The Lucifer that Cas had so blithely let out of the temporary cage so he could have this chance to spawn the thing that had taken his mother away. How in the hell was he supposed to just keep forgiving the guy (who wasn't really a guy)?

It was hard to have a friend that couldn’t be trusted to undo everything you’d worked and sacrificed for. Somehow it seemed like it just never ended, the train of Castiel’s bad decisions, not until it was too late. Like losing someone permanently, Bobby at the top of that list, and maybe mom now, too. If only there was a way to undo all of the bad choices one being had made. The next time he saw Chuck he would be asking for that, an undo-Cas button. That would have been a better gift from Amara than ripping his poor mother out of her heaven and plopping her down here in the middle of all their craziness. And now look where she was.

What would Amara have to say about this? Or did she and Chuck just look down on them and shake their heads, _‘oh there go those Winchesters tearing up the space-time continuum again._ ’ There wasn't anything he could do for their mom now. And nothing he could do for Cas either. But the baby that was just born, maybe he could help somehow, at some point in the future. And Sam, where the hell was he anyway?

"Sam!" Dean yelled into the night sky, the echo coming back from the lake soft and airy. “Hey, Sammy!" Dean yelled, a little worried, no a lot worried, because there was no answer coming back from his brother.

There were no sounds coming from the direction of the house, but that was of course where Sam had to be. His brother was in there somewhere dealing with Lucifer's love-child and here he’d been, letting himself grieve the losses. He got up from the damp grass, dusted off his knees and grabbed the angel sword that lay on the ground.

He looked down at Castiel's dead form once more and shook his head. “Sorry, Cas, guess it was your turn this time, man."

As he closed the front door behind him he was struck by how still the house was, he heard no sounds at first, but then there were words being murmured somewhere. It sounded like two voices, coming from upstairs. Who was Sam talking to? Was it Kelly Kline? Wasn’t she supposed to be dead by now? He kicked himself mentally again for having taken so long outside doing nothing but letting his thoughts uselessly spin out.

He crept up the stairs as quietly as he could manage, angel sword held in front of him, hoping for the element of surprise if that was what would help. He heard Sam's soothing voice, the one he used on Dean when he needed something, like for Dean to calm down and think. It worked its magic even though it wasn't directed at him.

_So...think...Dean....think._

Sam wasn’t talking to Kelly, or Cas or Mom, it had to be the kid, somehow Jack was old enough to have a conversation with. As he got closer to the nursery room, he couldn’t quite make out the language they were speaking, and it sure as hell wasn't English. Sounded more like Enochian, not that Dean was any sort of expert, but that's what his first impression was.

He had a momentary twinge where he caught himself being impressed at how well Sam seemed to be holding up his end of the conversation speaking in the tongue of the angels. But of course his brother was an expert, he'd had way too long to perfect that in all the time he'd been left in the Cage with Lucifer and Michael. Dean didn't want to think about that now though, it wasn't something he'd ever get over. Now was not the time to dwell on that, not in the middle of whatever this was.

As he was finally able to peek into the room he could just make out Sam in the darkest corner, bent down in a crouch in front of a shadowy figure. His brain fought against the obvious conclusion that shouldn’t make any freaking sense. It wasn't possible that Jack was that size already, how could he be the size of a young man? After all the amazing places he'd been to and the crazy things he’d seen during his strange life, this might be at the top of the list. Amara growing so quickly, to full adult size in less than a month or two, that was one thing. But almost instantly from birth to being near grown in a few minutes?

The power coming off of the dude was something else though. The house was beginning to rattle and shake and Dean remembered that the energy that had accompanied this guy's birth had ripped that hole in their universe. And his brother was cuddling up to him in the corner, still speaking soothing phrases in Enochian. The power waves seemed to dial down a couple notches so Sam must have been saying the right things to him. Or at least it was distracting him enough to win this round.

His hand tightened on the grip of the angel sword while he debated whether or not to burst into the room. Would the element of surprise help, or maybe the dude already knew he was there? What were his powers anyway? Was he all-knowing, all-powerful or limited to blowing things up? Maybe he could help get their mom out of the alternative world, but leave his daddy behind somehow?


	2. Chapter 2

_If the radiance of a thousand suns_   
_Were to burst at once into the sky_   
_That would be like the splendour of the Mighty One..._   
_I am become Death,_   
_The shatterer of worlds._   
  
_[Quoted from the Bhagavad Gita after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.]”_

_― J. Robert Oppenheimer_

That final vision of the orange rip sealing itself over their mother and Lucifer replayed over and over in Sam’s mind. He couldn’t see anything else, couldn’t think about what came next. She was gone, and Lucifer had survived. She was gone again, vanished into that horrifying other world, and Cas was dead on the ground. Before he could think clearly, he ran away from the scene, some instinctual need to get away from the thing that cut so deeply. 

Sam couldn’t stay, couldn’t mourn with Dean because he had this feeling he had to _do something_ , anything but give into the overwhelming feelings of loss that threatened his grip on reality. He couldn’t let himself go there again, it would be so easy to let himself lose touch with the real, and leave Dean alone to deal with this shitshow. He couldn’t do that to Dean again, not now.

His mind raced almost as fast as his feet, trying to come up with something to do. As Sam ran, his attention was caught by the flashing of lights upstairs inside the house, and he felt a surprisingly strong pull to be back inside there— _right now_. He had this urgent need to see what had happened to Kelly and her child. That would be something he could do, a physical action to keep him tethered to this reality.

“I’m going inside to check on Kelly and the kid!” he yelled back to Dean, hoping his brother would hear him. As he charged up the stairs he rationalized that Dean probably needed a moment alone with Castiel’s body anyway. Even though Dean had been on the outs with him lately, Cas was still his brother’s closest friend and this loss was going to hit him hard. But there would we time to get him through it, after Dean had some space to grieve.

He dashed down the hall, pausing at the first room he came to, Kelly was laid out on the bed, unmoving, as dead as he’d expected her to be. She looked peaceful which seemed improbable, but Cas had insisted up to the end that she’d wanted this child. They’d both been so crazy about it, describing incredible visions of a better world the nephilim child would somehow bring about. The child who was nowhere to be found near her body. Underneath Kelly’s peaceful expression and still form, the bed was soaked in blood, the edges of her white nightgown were soaked in it, but there was no trace of a child anywhere. Sam wrinkled his nose at the intense coppery wet smell of that much blood and tried not to think about what had happened to her.

He heard a noise from further down the hall, so he walked forward slowly, drawing his gun. He noticed a trail of bloody human footprints on the floorboards and followed them. The noise came again from the room at the opposite end of the hall, this one had to be the nursery. He could see the ABC’s painted on the wall because they glowed with an eerie white shine. The child’s name shining through the darkness clearly: J-A-C-K. Each letter carefully spelled out in its own apple. There was movement in the shadowy corner next to the new crib, Sam’s eyes strained to see, someone was crouched there.

 _This had to be Jack he was looking at, right? But how could he possibly be this size already?_   _He was just born, less than an hour ago, unless the time in the alternate universe was different from how it went here._

The terrifying yellow glow of the eyes of the figure crouched in the dark corner held Sam still in the nursery doorway. Sam couldn’t move until he heard Jack mumbling something in Enochian. The word _piripsol_ , stood out from the others all the way across the room. It meant brightness—burn so bright. But was Jack saying it about himself, or Sam?

Sam tucked his gun away as he listened more closely until he could translate the whole phrase. Jack was saying, “I saw you even before I came, you burn so bright.”

Those words seemed somewhat welcoming, or at least not overtly threatening which spurred to Sam to switch over into helping mode. “Jack, hey Jack, I’m Sam. I’m here to help you, okay?” He approached slowly, speaking in what he hoped would be a calming voice. He knelt down next to Jack on the floor and reached out to touch Jack’s shoulder.

Jack just stared back at him, mumbling Enochian too quickly for Sam to catch most of it. His eyes never blinked, never wavered from Sam’s face, their eerie yellow glow so like Azazel’s it made Sam’s skin crawl. Eventually he managed to get Jack a little bit out of the corner he was crouched in, and gave him his jacket to cover his nakedness. 

Sam folded his legs up, situating himself against the wall next to Jack and tried his best to talk to him. He quickly figured out Jack only seemed to know Enochian, so they started chatting slowly using that. Unfortunately that was a language Sam knew much too well because of his many years talking to Lucifer and Michael in the Cage. He usually tried his best to forget that he knew Enochian at all; tried to forget the whole thing had happened which was impossible of course. This being’s father had been a very effective teacher of all sorts of things. But knowing Enochian sure was coming in handy now.

Jack seemed to want to learn to converse in English, he kept saying, ‘ _Camilax, il camilax’_ and pointing at Sam. It translated to ‘Speak, you speak,’ so that’s what Sam started doing, repeating Jack’s Enochian questions in English and then his own answers in English and then Enochian.  After a few halting tries at speaking English himself, Jack was able to switch over from Enochian which surprised Sam at first and then made him worry even more about what this being would be capable of doing to their world.

“I was aware of you before I was born of course. Sam, you burned brightly even through the barrier of my mother’s womb,” Jack said, looking pleased with himself for his first long English sentence.

Sam didn’t respond, wasn’t sure what it meant that the nephilim knew who he was even before he was born. Speaking about his mother brought a change to the man’s face (Sam just couldn’t bring himself to think of Jack as an ‘it’) that concerned Sam. Everything in the room seemed to begin vibrating at a much higher frequency.

“Mother?” Jack asked, his face tight with fear.

 

Sam decided he’d be honest, hopefully that would be the best course of action to gain Jack’s trust. “I’m so sorry, Jack, but she’s dead,” Sam said, nodding towards the hall where he could see the bed where the wrecked and bloody body of Kelly Kline lay.

 

Jack followed Sam’s gaze and he stood up with a sudden and surprising grace. He walked the short distance down the hall to the room where she lay. He examined the mess that had only recently been his mother and gently closed her open eyes, stroking her hair a few times with a softness that pleased Sam to see. There was a gentleness to Jack that made him think he couldn’t possibly be one-hundred percent evil.

 

“She loved me?” Jack asked in a quiet voice.

 

“Yes, Kelly told me that she loved you more than anything. She said she was willing to die so that you could be born. She said she knew you would be worth her sacrifice.” Sam had no idea if Jack really knew what love or death or sacrifice meant but if this kid was going to be a good guy in this world, he needed to start learning those things right now.

 

“I will love her too, always” Jack said, closing his eyes and bowing his head. “She was kind and soft, not like father.” 

 

Kelly Kline’s body slowly re-made itself, the bones reforming, the muscles knitting themselves together, the flesh and skin rolling back up until she was whole again. Jack pulled the sheet over her and the blood disappeared, the whiteness of the sheet blazing bright in the room, slowly fading like a dimmer switch being turned down.

 

Sam didn’t say anything for a long moment, wondering if he was about to witness a resurrection. He held his breath waiting to see what Jack would do next.

 

Jack scanned the room and quickly returned to the nursery, Sam caught up with him after pausing to marvel at the wholeness of Kelly’s body. Jack was standing under the ABC’s, one hand tracing the painted letters of his name on the nursery wall.

 

“Your mother painted that herself, she wanted to make the room nice for you,” Sam said.

 

Jack shook himself all over like he’d just remembered something, his alert eyes blazing a hot yellow on Sam’s face. “Father?” Jack asked among a quick barrage of Enochian that Sam couldn’t decipher. Jack retreated to the corner he’d first been in, like he was trying to disappear into the shadows. He pulled Sam’s coat more tightly around himself and hid his face from view.

 

“Yeah, I…uh, I knew your father,” Sam said, not wanting to say Lucifer’s name out loud or describe how and why he knew Jack’s father. He crouched down in front of Jack as he had before, hoping he could get through to him the truth about his father without setting him off.

 

“Knew? Is he dead too?” Jack asked, a panicky look in his eyes, the power coming off of him dialed up a few notches as his anxiety increased. The edges of everything in Sam’s vision began to vibrate and the red-orange of the rip in the world began to bleed into everything, just around the edges so far, threatening, barely being held back. Jack was not quite in control of his power yet.

 

“To be honest, Jack, I’m not really sure,” Sam said in as calm a voice as he could manage, wondering how he’d get out of this. Was it possible to explain to someone that their father was pure evil without setting them off to maybe end up destroying the world?

 

“Sam, where is my father?” Jack asked, jumping up to pace the room on unsteady legs as the power seemed to increase yet another notch.

 

“That’s very hard to explain,” Sam said, thinking of how to handle this, and where the hell was Dean anyway?

 

Jack stopped pacing and turned to face Sam. “Try,” he said in a voice that rang with command.

 

Sam took a deep breath to stall for time to consider what the hell he should say, Jack’s power was a physical thing now, red-orange bled over into everything, not just the edges. Everything in the room seemed to be vibrating with an energy barely contained. 

 

“First, can you please turn your power down a little, Jack? Just so I can think of how to explain where your father is?” Sam asked, hoping Jack would know what he meant, or that he could even do it. “Maybe take a deep breath like this,” Sam said, demonstrating an over-exaggerated deep breathing exercise he’d learned in yoga class back in college.

 

Jack nodded and copied Sam’s breathing technique, his eyes still flared yellow never leaving Sam’s face. 

 

Sam was relieved to feel the power withdraw as Jack’s face and body relaxed. They sat back down together, Jack’s back against the corner where he apparently felt safest, Sam crouched in front of him.

 

“Good, Jack, that’s good, thanks, so…uh, okay, when you were born, the energy or power or whatever ripped a hole between this world where we are now and an…another one. That world was in another time and place, another reality maybe? I don’t know really, but I do know, your father’s there, and so is my mother.”

 

“Do you want them to come back here, Sam?” Jack asked.

 

Sam’s heart leapt at the possibility, their mother back, safe and sound, but no, not with Lucifer too. Not after what they’d done to keep him away from their world. “My mother, yes, I want her back more than anything. But not your father, no. It’s hard to just say this to someone, but your father is bent on destroying this world, all of humanity. He’s been plotting and planning it for his entire life to get back at his own father.”

 

“So, I shouldn’t help my father carry out his plans?” Jack asked tilting his head to the side like an unexpectedly adorable retriever.

 

“The thing is, fathers aren’t always right,” Dean said, standing just outside the doorway, angel blade in one hand, looking like he was about to throw it across the room at Jack.

 

Jack’s head whip-turned to stare at Dean, his eyes blazing bright yellow as he examined Dean. The room began to shake as the power Jack was letting loose increased ten-fold again. The angel sword in Dean’s hand seemed to suck the power in, becoming brighter and brighter. It was so bright that Sam couldn’t even see Dean through the shine. He heard Dean drop it with a gasp and then could see his brother as he rubbed his hands together.

 

“Jack…uh, this is my brother, Dean,” Sam said, standing up slowly and taking a step towards Dean. He couldn’t believe how relieved he was that Dean was finally in here with him to help. He knew he couldn’t possibly keep handling Jack all on his own.

 

“You two are one, I can see the connection, it’s—it’s very beautiful. You are very beautiful together,” Jack said, he seemed to be mesmerized, his eyes flicking back and forth between them. The power dialed back down to where the red-orange glow around everything was almost gone. “You are the _zizop_ , that my father described to me. He said you were _saisch_.”

 

Dean crossed the room to stand next to Sam, looking up at him for a translation of the Enochian words.

 

“Yes, we are—well, we _were_ vessels, and we are brothers too,” Sam said. Dean leaned into him a little like he knew just hearing the Enochian was hurting Sam.

 

“No, you are far more than just _saisch_. That is the beauty that I see between. You are _nor-quashi_ ,” Jack said with a smile.

 

“ _Nor-quashi_?” Sam asked. “I’m sorry I don’t know that word in your language.”

 

“Sons of pleasure,” Jack said, his smile widening into a terrifying grin. “You two are many things to one another. Is this true?”

 

“That is very true, yes, we are many things to each other, maybe everything,” Sam said. He elbowed Dean gently so that he would back him up.

 

“Yeah, it’s true, Sam’s everything to me. We were told by an angel that we’re soul-mates,” Dean said.

 

Sam felt a warmth spread through him in a rush from hearing Dean’s words. It wasn’t something they ever talked about, just something they knew, had always known. 

 

“This is how you defeated him, that is what my father told me but I did not understand until I saw it now. He had much respect for you and your combined power,” Jack said, as his eyes widened in comprehension, the yellow blazed even more brightly.

 

“If you say so,” Dean said with a skeptical tone that was probably lost on Jack. The idea of Lucifer respecting them seemed pretty far off the truth as far as they knew. “So—uh, Jack, what’s the plan here?”

 

“I have no plan of my own, I was brought into being because this world required it.”

 

“Did your father tell you that?” Sam asked, because that sounded exactly like something the ever-scheming Lucifer would tell his son before he was born.

 

“Yes, but now that I hear from you that he wanted to destroy this world and all who dwell within it, I am…reconsidering,” Jack said, shifting from foot to foot.

 

“That’s…uh, that’s great, Jack, we’re glad to hear that,” Sam said.

 

“You know, I wish you could meet this other kid, he had a demon for a father and human for a mother, he was supposedly going to bring down all the angels and demons. The kid had a huge amount of power.”

 

“Why can’t I meet him?” Jack asked, doing that head tilt thing again. It would be cute if he wasn’t so intensely terrifying.

 

“It’s a long story, but we had this friend, Castiel, he was an angel. Your father uh…just killed him,” Dean said, voice trailing off at the end. 

 

“Why did my father kill your angel friend?” Jack asked.

 

“He was trying to keep him in the other world so that he’d be stuck there and leave this world alone,” Sam said.

 

“Tell me more about this powerful boy,” Jack said.

 

“Cas tried to kill this kid, back then he was still following his orders from Heaven, and they wanted to stop him because he was so powerful,” Dean said.

 

“Where is this boy now?” Jack asked.

 

“We don’t know, we’ve never seen or heard from him since,” Dean said. “Cas really scared him off, can’t blame him that he disappeared.”

 

“What was this boy's name?” Jack asked, an intense look of excitement on his face.

 

“His first name was Jesse, but I don’t remember, give me a second—it was Jesse Turner. He’s got to be close to eighteen by now,” Sam said. “We have no idea where he went or how to get ahold of him though.”

  
“I see him in your minds. I will ask,” Jack said, closing his eyes and bowing his head like he had over Kelly Kline.

 

Sam took advantage of Jack’s attention finally being elsewhere and pulled Dean close with an arm around his waist. He leaned down and whispered against Dean’s ear, “I need you to stand down, Dean. He’s not all bad as far as I can tell. We have to keep him and us calm until he can learn to control his power.”

 

Dean’s body tightened all over, obviously resisting Sam’s words. Sam knew his brother wouldn’t agree right away, would want to kill the monster before asking too many questions. But if there was a chance they could get their mom back, he had to hold his brother off that path. Sam kissed Dean’s ear softly and murmured, “Thanks big brother.” 

 

Dean sighed and leaned into Sam’s side a little more, wrapping his own arm around Sam’s waist in acknowledgment that he’d at least try. Sam knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of leeway though. Dean would want to kill the closest thing to take revenge for their losses. Understandable of course, but there was definitely more to Jack than they knew for certain at the moment. The beautiful future for the world that both Cas and Kelly had spoken about with such absolute certainty was one thing. Sam hadn’t believed that, but they certainly had, and Jack had also just mentioned it. They needed to find out what that beautiful future might entail.

 

Jack’s attention came back to them abruptly, like he’d hung up a phone call. “He will come,” Jack said.

 

“Who, Jesse?” Dean asked, his arm tightening around Sam.

 

“Yes, he will come here,” Jack said.

 

“Well, if we’re having a guest, guess we’d better get you something to wear then,” Dean said, stepping away from Sam. “I’ll go get our stuff, see if we have anything left to eat.”

 

Sam watched his brother leave and hoped he wouldn’t be arming himself to the teeth out of their trunk filled with weapons. As far as he knew they didn’t have anything that would be effective against Jack’s power. But that wouldn’t stop Dean from trying.

 

“Dean is everything to you,” Jack observed after they heard the front door close downstairs. “But he does not trust what you said to him about me.”

 

“Yes, he is everything to me. Jack, he doesn’t trust you yet, but that’s just normal for him. It takes Dean a while to warm up to anyone, especially people who have powers he doesn’t understand. He’s very protective of me, he is my big brother after all,” Sam said.

 

“You are lucky to have a _saisch_ such as he, I wish there was one here for me,” Jack said.

 

“I am lucky, I wish you had a brother too, it must feel very lonely, for you. Honestly, I can’t imagine that at all. C’mon let’s go downstairs and see what he brought in for you to wear. Aren’t you hungry?”

 

“What is hungry?” Jack asked, trailing behind Sam as they descended the stairs.

 


	3. Chapter 3

_"Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one." ~ Vladimir Nabokov_

****

After solving the hungry issue with some energy bars found in the bottom of Sam’s backpack and the last warm beers from the green cooler there was a discussion about food and drinks and how and why humans made them. Dean was surprised to find how hard it was to explain the basics to someone, Jack literally was born yesterday and knew nothing and somehow everything at the same time. A human baby learns a lot of this stuff gradually, but Jack was insatiable and rather demanding for all the details—now. It was kind of exhausting keeping up with him.

 

Dean took a break from the conversation and made a good roaring fire in the fireplace, it was colder inside than outside and they would need to try and get some sleep at some point, especially Sam who was drooping fast. He worried about his brother’s ability to keep pushing, he knew he wanted to monitor Jack and keep him calm. But he’d just watched his brother take one small bite of his energy bar and then pass on the uneaten portion to Jack who had quickly discovered the state of being ravenous after figuring out hungry. Sam wasn’t going to last much longer without food and or rest, preferably both. He wondered if Jack even needed sleep or not, they might have to take turns sleeping for a while until they figured it out. He laughed to himself as he once again wished Cas had left them a _Guide to Raising Your Nephilim_ book or something.

 

Sam and Jack migrated to the living room when they heard Dean groan with relief at finding a comfortably worn couch to sit down on. Jack seemed entranced by the fire and chose an overstuffed chair closest to the fireplace. Sam was in the middle of talking to Jack about angel hierarchies, curled up against Dean who tried his best to follow the half-Enochian conversation when Sam abruptly went silent. His words trailed off into a mumble in the middle of a sentence. Dean could feel the weight of a now-sleeping Sam pushing him further into the depths of the old couch.

 

Jack’s eyes widened when he noticed Sam’s absence from the conversation and his concern became evident in the shaking of the walls.

 

“Is Sam dead?” Jack asked in a worried voice.

 

“No, hey calm down, Jack. He’s just sleeping. It’s a thing humans do when we’re tired, we close our eyes and go to sleep. I promise he’s not dead, just resting.” Dean stroked Sam’s hair to help keep him asleep through the conversation.

 

Jack’s tension seemed to calm as he listened to Dean’s explanation. Even with Sam’s sleepy warm form against him, he found he was still as wide-awake as Jack was. It occurred to him that he should get Jack out of the house to let Sam have some rest. He slowly maneuvered himself out from underneath the sleeping Sasquatch and arranged Sam on the couch in a comfortable position. He folded up his jacket and tucked it under Sam’s head, and ran his hand through Sam’s hair a few more times to resettle him. In sleep, his brother looked so young and untroubled, the weight of all he carried let go for a while, but he was still so damn beautiful.

 

He noticed that there was movement next to him, Jack was watching what he was doing very closely. 

 

“What are you doing to him?” Jack asked in a loud voice. Sam’s brow tightened and he mumbled, turning over to bury his face in the couch cushion away from them.

 

Dean shushed Jack and herded them out the front door. “We need to be quiet so Sam can sleep, okay?” Dean asked on the porch as he closed the door as quietly as he could manage.

 

“Is that Castiel over there?” Jack asked, pointing at the body lying on the ground.

 

“Yeah, yeah it is. You want to help me with something, Jack?” Dean asked, getting an idea of how to fill some time while Sam slept. He remembered from his time raising Sam that keeping a young kid physically occupied usually worked. And maybe it would tire him out so he’d need some sleep.

 

He directed Jack in picking up branches, and together they made a pyre near the edge of the forest away from the house. He walked back to where Castiel’s body lay and scooped him up into his arms. He hadn’t had to carry the angel, and found him surprisingly light on the walk back to the pyre. He laid him on top of the wood and began to button up his overcoat.

 

“What happens now?” Jack asked, watching Dean arrange Castiel’s coat.

 

“We set the whole thing on fire,” Dean said.

 

“Fire, why?” Jack asked.

 

Dean blew out a breath of frustration, recalling Sam’s ‘why’ phase when he was three which had nearly made him lose his mind at the time. “Fire because the whole point is that we’re burning his body.”

 

“Why do you need to burn his body if he is dead? Are you going to eat him?”

 

“No, shit, no! We don’t eat other people. That is not a thing that we do,” Dean said looking at Jack’s surprise at his outburst. When he seemed to calm down Dean continued, “This kind of fire is a tradition that we hunters do when one of us dies. It does a couple things, it’s a way of honoring the memory of the person who died and to make sure they don’t come back as a ghost.”

 

“What is a ghost? Is that a bad thing to be?” Jack asked.

 

“Well, now that I think about it, Cas probably couldn’t do the whole ghost thing since he didn’t have a soul. But a ghost is when a human soul of someone who’s died sticks around instead of moving on to Heaven or Hell or wherever like they’re supposed to. They can go a little crazy and get violent, they usually end up hurting people who are still living without meaning to.”

 

“You have experienced this thing before,” Jack said, a light of comprehension dawning in his yellowish tinged eyes that glowed even more in the darkness on the forest’s edge. 

 

Dean was struck with how much he looked like a wolf or that type of predator and tried to not think about it too much lest Jack pick up on it. Since Jack was a powerful mind reader, it was probably best not to bring subjects up in his own mind unless he wanted to explain them to the newbie.

 

Instead of saying or thinking anything more about predators and their eyes, Dean decided on how to answer the question. “Yes, our friend, Bobby, he died a few years ago. Sam and I made a pyre just like this one, but he stuck around as a ghost. It turned out he was tied to a drinking flask that he’d always used, just like this one,” Dean pulled his own flask out of his pocket and took a swig. “He chose to stay because he wanted to help us, and he did, but it almost went wrong. He came close to killing Sam.” 

 

“Is Bobby still a ghost?” Jack asked.

 

“No, we—uh, melted down his flask and he left us for good,” Dean said, taking another long pull from his flask and pouring a bit on the pyre. He quickly tucked it back in his pocket before Jack asked him for some. Were nephilim even supposed to drink? Was Jack old enough?

 

“Bobby was like your father, but what was Cas to you?” Jack asked.

 

“That’s kinda complicated. But on the good days, which there were a lot of, he was an honorary brother, we fought side by side for a lot of years. Sam and I will miss him.”

 

“But not as a _nor-quashi saisch_ as you and Sam,” Jack said.

 

“No, hell no,” Dean shook his head vigorously at the idea. “Definitely not even close to what me and Sam are.”

 

Jack didn’t say anything, just slowly examined Dean again, like he was trying to place all the words together into something that made sense to him. Family relationships were hard enough to figure out as a human, so Dean didn’t envy Jack the work he had ahead of him.

 

“Usually, this is where we say something about the person who died. So here goes, uh…Cas saved Sam and I so many times, I’ve forgotten how many, for which we will always always be grateful. He taught both of us a whole lot, and he sometimes hurt us too. We’ll both miss him no matter what we disagreed about, and we’re really glad we got to know him. He made one hell of a good sandwich,” Dean said, flicking his lighter and setting the flame to the kindling, the pyre’s flames slowly rose. His eyes were so focused on the growing fire that he didn’t notice the commotion next to him at first, then it was all he could see.

 

A new pyre assembled itself, logs and branches flying out of the forest through the air one by one, arranging themselves neatly and then Kelly’s body wrapped in the bed sheet blinking into view on top of it all. Kelly’s pyre had caught fire from Castiel’s before Dean had a chance to speak.

 

“My mother, Kelly loved me. I wish I had the chance to know her in this world. She told me she thought I would be the thing that saved this world from itself. I will honor her memory by trying to be that person.”

 

“Cas thought that too, it’s why he was sticking with your mom almost until the end.”

 

“You mean, when I killed her by being born?” Jack asked.

 

“You can’t think about it like that, Jack. Her being dead, it’s not your fault, it’s never the child’s fault when something like that happens. How could it be? It’s not like it was your choice to be born, right? And besides, there’s no one here to blame you for it but yourself, so my free advice is just don’t even start. Blaming yourself never gets you anywhere good, believe me.”

 

“I do believe you, Dean, thank you for saying that.”

 

They were silent then, standing together to watch the flames consume the bodies and then waiting for the embers to die down before pushing dirt over them to smother them safely.

 

“Do you need to sleep now, Dean?” Jack asked as they walked back towards the house.

 

Dean yawned widely at the reminder of how damn tired he was. “I do, yeah, it’s all finally catching up with me. How about you?”

 

“I don’t know, I guess I can try it. Will you show me how?” Jack asked as they stepped up onto the porch.

 

Dean suppressed a laugh and then decided it was probably worth a try. “Yeah, I’ll give you some pointers. Let’s go upstairs and see if there’s a bed you can use. Quiet now, in case Sam’s still sleeping.”

 

Jack nodded and followed Dean up the stairs, moving silently except for the squeaking of the old wood. Dean led him into the room Kelly had given birth in, because the nursery only had a crib. He was relieved to see the blood he’d expected wasn’t there, so he pulled the covers back.

 

“Take those shoes off, and the jacket too. Are you cold?” Dean asked.

 

“No, the temperature feels fine,” Jack said, tucking his shoes under the end of the bed.

 

“Well, to be comfortable, I’d say take the jeans off, and then jump in here under the blanket,” Dean said, holding the blanket open for Jack.

 

Jack slipped his jeans off and folded them up on top of his shoes and jacket. He jumped over the footboard of the bed in a high arc, almost hitting the ceiling. He landed hard on his back with an ‘oomf’ the impact sending a cloud of dust up from the bed.

 

“Jump in here was just an expression, but you’re all good now, at least it didn’t break the bed,” Dean said, pulling the blankets up over Jack. 

 

“What do I do now?” Jack asked, his body rigid as if he was expecting a fight or attack.

 

“First of all relax your muscles, take some deep breaths, remember, you’re safe here, okay? Next, close your eyes and imagine things that make you feel calm, and after that, just let yourself let go of all of it. Hopefully you’ll be asleep and if not, just lie here for a while and rest.”

 

“I will try, thank you for teaching me, Dean,” Jack said, closing his eyes tightly. Dean felt a wash of relief to not be seeing those glowing yellow eyes for the first time in a while.

 

He tiptoed out of the room but stopped when he heard Jack murmur the phrases: ‘ _Aziazor saisch nor-quashi, aziazor exentaser,_ ’ several times like a prayer or chant. 

 

Dean repeated the words to himself as he went downstairs, hoping he could remember them to ask Sam what they meant when he woke up.

 

Sam was still breathing in his familiar deep-sleep rhythm, so he tried to make himself comfortable in the overstuffed chair by the fireplace. He soon found it was hard to turn his brain all the way off. So much had happened, in such a short amount of time, it was hard to let it go, because he hadn’t worked through it all yet. The loss of Mom and Cas was tough, but he knew he would get that handled eventually. His technique of stuff down the sadness and try to carry on had worked up until now. 

 

He looked across the room at his brother lit up by the dwindling fire, the light loving the planes of his face as usual. How Sam was dealing with knowing that Lucifer was still out there on top of everything else was astounding to him. Not surprising, because his brother was the strongest person he’d ever known, but he honestly didn’t know how Sam was still functioning as well as he was.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Sam asked in a sleepy voice that made him smile internally, reminding him of the days when his little brother was actually little.

 

“Just making sure your face is in the right place,” Dean grumped even though he knew Sam would instantly figure out he was kidding.

 

“Where’s Jack?” Sam asked, knuckling at his eyes to wake up enough to talk.

 

“Upstairs, I gave him some sleeping lessons,” Dean said, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing his ankles, trying to find a comfortable position.

 

“I’m not even gonna ask. Hey, the couch is big enough if you want,” Sam said, moving himself around to show how much room was left.

 

Dean rolled his eyes just for show and stood up, he tossed the last two logs onto the fire, hoping they’d keep them warm for the rest of the night. He stared into the fire for a little too long, losing track of time as his mind kept racing with all the craziness of the day.

 

“Dean?” Sam asked, voice filled with worry and need. 

 

Dean couldn’t help his automatic response of wanting to immediately fix whatever was worrying Sam. “Hold your horses, just making sure the fire caught,” Dean said, brushing his hands off against each other. He remembered the angel sword when his slightly burned palms began to sting again.

 

“You think Jack’s going to be okay on his own up there?” Sam asked, opening his arms up wide to show Dean there was enough room.

 

Dean folded himself down onto the couch, settling into his brother’s embrace so easily it felt like he’d never left his arms. Maybe that would be a good plan going forward. “I think he’ll be fine, and we’ll know by Jack-quake if he’s not,” Dean said, mumbling his words against the warm skin of Sam’s neck. “You know, he was terrified when you fell asleep, it was kind of cute. He thought you died, I had to explain it to him.”

 

Sam chuckled and squeezed Dean a little tighter. “Thanks for letting me sleep.”

 

“My turn now,” Dean murmured, beginning to fall off into the welcome darkness now that he felt safe wrapped up with Sam where he belonged. There was something he had to ask though, what was it? “Oh he said, ‘ _Aziazor saisch nor-quashi, aziazor exentaser’_ a few times as he was falling asleep, I know _saisch_ is brother, what’s the rest mean?”

 

“Your pronunciation needs work, but I think I got it. _Aziazor_ means love, so he said he loves us, the _saisch nor-quashi,_ brothers who are sons of pleasure. And then he said he loved his mother.”

 

“Sons of pleasure, huh? That’s us I guess, am I right or what,” Dean said, thrusting his hips into Sam’s as a joke at first but then in a more deliberate pattern, making contact that made Sam gasp.

 

Sam’s lips met his and he drank up the sounds of Sam’s pleasure, kissing him back deeply, trying to get across how damn grateful he was that they were still together, and in the right world. All thoughts from the events of the day disappeared into the sensations of Sam’s hands grasping at his ass, pulling them together more tightly.

 

The roughness of their jeans between them was almost painful, but he could feel enough of Sam’s intense and hard heat. Sam pressed rhythmically against him, so forcefully the old couch began to squeak.

 

“Sammy, need it,” Dean panted against Sam’s neck. 

 

Sam’s hand dipped into the back of Dean’s jeans, one finger pressing against his opening, teasing gently. It was just enough to push Dean over the edge, he felt himself crash, letting go and shaking in his brother’s arms. He felt Sam shift against him, and heard him whining with need so he bit down hard on the tendon of his neck. Sam groaned as his hips stuttered and finally stopped against Dean’s. Dean loved that he could feel the matching throb even through their jeans as they both remained pressed together.

 

Sam took his mouth over again, lips moving against his with force and passion at first, and then with a whisper soft touch of words that meant everything in that moment. “We’re still here together, Dean, that’s all that matters to me.”

 

Dean let his brother’s words carry him off to sleep, the worry and sorrow of the day over with for now, the temporary peace dragging him under.

 

 

****

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

_“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”_

_―_ [ _Charles Dickens_ ](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/239579.Charles_Dickens) _,_ [ _Great Expectations_ ](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2612809)

*****

The room was shaking apart.

That was how they woke up, hearts pounding with sudden adrenaline, the couch they laid on wrapped up together was moving closer to the fireplace in big jumps as the floor heaved beneath them.

 

Sam and Dean jumped off the couch, untangling themselves as they went. Sam stumbled towards the stairs, wanting to get to Jack as soon as possible, to stop him before the house shook apart.

 

“Sammy, be careful!” Dean yelled as he tried to catch up to Sam’s quick run up the stairs. But Sam couldn’t stop, he could feel the pressure of Jack’s power increasing the closer he got to the bedroom.

 

“Jack, hey, Jack, you gotta wake up,” Sam said from the hallway, hoping that Jack could hear him through the noise of the house coming apart around them. That orange-red of the rip into the other world was bleeding in again, coloring the edges of Sam’s vision. “Jack, please you have to stop.” 

 

Sam pushed through the invisible shield of energy pulsing off of the bed where Jack laid asleep, his eyes still shut tight, but his whole body was tensed up as if he was fighting. Sam struggled to get close enough to touch Jack, hoping the physical contact would work since his words weren’t. “Jack, it’s just a dream, c’mon wake up,” Sam said, his hand finally able to make contact with Jack’s shoulder, he shook him gently and hoped for the best.

 

Jack’s eyes opened, blazing a bright yellow and the power level increased explosively, blowing Sam across the room where he crashed into the wall next to the door. Dean was in the doorway and he scooped Sam up, checking that he was okay. Jack’s power battered at both of them in a continuous assault.

 

“Jack, you stop this right now!” Dean said, using the command voice he’d copied from their dad.

 

Jack’s eyes blinked in surprise and the power cut off abruptly, making both of the brothers stumble. They grabbed onto each other’s shoulders to steady themselves.

 

The house settled down, dust still swirling through the morning sunbeams coming in the bedroom windows. Jack looked at them with eyes widened in surprise. “What happened?”

 

“I think you did a good job falling asleep, but I forgot to tell you about dreams,” Dean said as they both stepped closer towards the bed. “They’re like movies that your brain plays as you’re resting, they don’t always make a lot of sense. Sometimes they can be scary or worse.”

 

“Do you remember what was happening in your dream just now?” Sam asked.

 

“I was fighting my father, in my dream, but he was so strong, I was trying to hold him off,” Jack said, still looking scared of the power of his dream.

 

“Given how much power you were blasting us with, I bet you were winning,” Sam said, taking this as a hopeful sign that they’d gotten across to Jack that Lucifer wasn’t the dad-of-the-year he’d made himself out to be.

 

“I was fighting him because he was hurting you, Sam. In a place that had bars for walls,” Jack said in a sad voice.

 

“That’s probably the Cage, it’s a place in Hell, I spent a lot of time stuck in there with him,” Sam said, hoping Jack wouldn’t ask too many questions or be too detailed about what he’d seen in his dream. He knew Dean couldn’t take much of the gory details and he really didn’t want to explain it all to Jack.

 

“Did that happen to you, Sam? Did my father hurt you?” Jack asked.

 

“Yes, he did, in many ways, for a lot of time,” Sam said. “He hated me for trapping him in the Cage again, but I had to save the world from him.”

 

“Would he hurt you again if he came back to this world?” Jack asked, sounding so damn  serious it made Sam lose any way to respond.

 

“Yeah, he would, and everyone else,” Dean said, speaking up when Sam couldn’t.

 

Jack didn’t say anything, but his eyes filled with tears. Sam and Dean looked at each other in silent conversation. They hadn’t known that the kid could cry much feel deep emotions.

 

Sam sat on the bed next to Jack’s hip, and touched him on the shoulder again. “Listen, Jack I know you are not your father. And what he does or did, it’s not up to you, not something you have to apologize for, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Jack said with a nod. He looked grateful and wiped at his eyes, staring at his now wet hand. “What is this water?”

 

“Those are called tears, when humans get strong emotions, sometimes they leak out of our eyes, it helps our bodies process the emotions,” Sam said.

 

Jack’s stomach rumbled loudly. He looked down at it in alarm. “What was that?”

 

“That’s your stomach telling you it’s time to find something to eat,” Dean said. “C’mon, let’s get downstairs and rustle up some grub for breakfast.” Dean headed downstairs and Jack began to ask what he meant, but Sam interrupted him with a fond smile in Dean’s direction.

 

“That just means he’s going to find us something to eat,” Sam said. “One of those human phrases you’ll just have to learn.” Sam stood up and started to follow after Dean.

 

“You are such simple creatures, but there are so many details that are fascinating,” Jack said behind him.

 

Sam was instantly stopped in his tracks by Jack’s chilling statement and slowly turned to look at him. “Well, you have to try to remember you are half-human, Jack. I think it’s pretty normal to be interested in figuring yourself out.”

 

Jack finally began to get out of bed, finding his shoes and jeans and putting them back on as he spoke. “Father said I would need to ignore that part of myself, that humans were the reason for everything bad in the world.”

 

“What do you think about that now?” Sam asked, dreading Jack’s answer.

 

“I haven’t seen enough humans or the world to know yet,” Jack said, standing up and meeting Sam’s eyes with his yellow ones.

 

“That’s good, keep your mind open and decide for yourself,” Sam said, temporarily relieved by Jack’s answer, even though he knew that it could go so wrong so fast if Jack ran into the wrong sort of humans.

 

They sat down at the table with Dean in the small kitchen where Dean had laid the last of their meager food supplies out. Two Slim Jim’s, two stale wrapped pastries stolen from the last motel they had stayed at, and one mostly eaten bag of Funyuns.

 

“We’re down to the dregs, sorry guys,” Dean said. He brought them glasses of water that although a bit cloudy tasted like clean fresh lake water. Dean began dividing the food up equally, setting parts of each item in front of Sam and Jack.

 

“This is really good water,” Sam said, after he polished off his glass. “Better than the Bunker’s, that’s for sure.”

 

“This far out, I think it’s a well on the property, maybe lake-fed,” Dean said, sipping from his own glass.

 

Jack had eaten the food placed in front of him and was eyeing the remainders left on the table. “You can have mine, Jack,” Sam said, pushing his portion towards him, as usual all the talk of Lucifer and the Cage had taken away his appetite.

 

“Sammy, c’mon, you have to eat something,” Dean said.

 

“I did, last night,” Sam said. He tried to smile at Dean, but Dean was having none of it, luckily he didn’t push the matter any further.

 

“What is the Bunker?” Jack asked.

 

“It’s the place where we live, it’s far from here, we’ll show it to you soon,” Sam said.

 

****

Jesse appeared at the house by the lake a little later that morning, knocking on the front door, flakes of white paint scattering in the cool breeze.

 

“Jesse, it’s so good to see you. It’s been a while,” Sam said, letting the young man enter the house. He had really grown up a lot, but was still recognizable as the kid they’d met all those years ago.

 

“Yeah, it’s uh…been, what—five years or something?” Jesse asked, shaking Sam’s hand a little tentatively.

 

“That angel, he’s not here, right?” Jesse asked before stepping all the way into the house. Sam could see the fear in his eyes.

 

“No, he’s—uh, he’s dead,” Sam said, glad Dean wasn’t there, he didn’t want to see how those words would affect him, not on top of everything else going on this morning.

 

Dean appeared at Sam’s side and reached a hand out across to shake Jesse’s. “Hey, Jesse, glad you’re here. You were just a little guy when we last saw you.”

 

“So…uh, you probably figured out we’ve got someone here you should meet,” Sam said, stepping back and letting Jesse get all the way into the house so he could shut the door behind him. The morning light was so bright on his tired eyes. They hadn’t had much sleep or rest or anything for a while now.

 

Dean walked Jesse towards the kitchen. “Just a little fyi, he’s the son of Lucifer, was literally born yesterday, and is the most powerful nephilim maybe ever.”

 

“That’s what that was, I could feel it…uh, him coming through. I got a message I guess you'd call it, to come here. I’ve tried to stay far away from this kind of stuff, but it wasn’t something I could ignore this time. Guess he’s more powerful than me?” Jesse asked.

 

“No idea,” Sam said from behind them. “But we thought you two might have something in common. Since being born last night he’s physically matured I’d say twenty years at least. So he’s on a whole different time table than you.”

 

Jack was sitting at the kitchen table, finishing the remains of the breakfast Dean had made out of the minimal food supplies they’d had in the car. The wrappers from the Slim Jim's were now braided neatly and melted into a shape that resembled one of the enochian symbols for sword.

 

“Jack, this is Jesse Turner, the guy we told you about and that I guess you contacted somehow,” Sam said.

 

Jack stood up and examined Jesse from head to toe and back again. “You are not what I expected.”

 

“Nice to meet you too,” Jesse said with a shy smile, reaching forward to shake hands.

 

When Jack took Jesse’s outstretched hand in his, an instant burst of percussive force blew the brothers backward out of the kitchen. The entire house began to shake violently, the floor heaving, the windows flexed and blew out with an enormous crash. The walls began to buckle around them as Sam and Dean stumbled out the front door. The brothers barely escaped before the roof fell in, the second story crushing down onto the one below it. They hid behind the protection of the Impala and watched the house blow apart completely. The remnants of it were now in tiny pieces whirling around in a confusing rush of noise and shimmering power. It was hard to make out what was happening at the center of it all.

 

“Guess there was something about the energies of the two of them being combined?” Sam said, panting with the adrenaline rush of near death.

 

“Some people just aren’t good together I guess,” Dean joked.

 

Sam elbowed him in the ribs. They stopped talking when they heard the whirlwind cease, all the pieces of the house abruptly hitting the ground at the same time with an enormous whoosh that pressed at their eardrums. 

 

The dust cleared and the brothers could see that Jesse and Jack’s hands looked like they were melded together into one thing. They didn’t appear to be in any pain, but it was clear they were both confused, even scared about what was happening. It was so bright and the power coming off of their union was insane, rippling through the air. Sam got up from his spot next to Dean and ran towards them. He struggled and pushed through the physical barrier of their combined power to get nearer to them, to try to help them stop.

 

“It’s going to be okay, you guys try and calm down, maybe it will stop!” Sam yelled.

 

“Take a deep breath or something!” Dean yelled as he tugged Sam away, bringing them both down into a heap on the ground away from the swirl of energy that had begun again.

 

The brothers watched as both Jack and Jesse inhaled and the power waves died down a bit. 

The two men held their breath and locked eyes, each searching the other’s face for explanations that neither of them had. 

 

Jesse shrugged and smiled, releasing the breath he’d been holding, and copying him, Jack did too. The power waves died down further and then stopped completely. The bright light slowly faded and their hands finally separated. Both stretched and flexed their fingers looking at them in wonder that they weren’t injured.

 

“You guys okay?” Sam asked in the suddenly quiet morning.

 

“I guess so,” Jesse said, looking intently at Jack.

 

“Yes, we are,” Jack said, staring right back at Jesse. 

 

“So..no more handshakes until we get this figured out, huh?” Dean asked.

 

“Either of you know what the hell that was?” Sam asked.

 

“It felt like magnets, you know when you get them switched around the wrong way, and they’re attracted but they repel at the same time?” Jesse said.

 

“It is due to our origin, the forces that created us are in total opposition, so too our physical manifestations must also be. The balance can only be maintained this way,” Jack said.

 

“What balance?” Dean and Sam asked in unison.

 

“The Balance, with a capital B,” Jesse said. “I’m pretty sure he means the balance of everything, I guess of the whole world. That’s usually how I think of it.”

 

“Think much bigger, my brother,” Jack said with a smile.

 

Jesse tilted his head and seemed to consider what Jack had just called him. “Bigger, like, the whole universe bigger?” Jesse asked.

 

Jack nodded and continued smiling. He turned to face Sam and Dean. “You have met my grandfather, and my great-aunt, correct?”

 

“Chuck and Amara, yeah, why?” Dean asked.

 

“They’re another example of this, they invented the Balance, back in the beginning, when time began,” Jack said.

 

“So what does that mean for us, now?” Sam asked.

 

“It means Jesse and I have some work to do,” Jack said. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment. We shall return.” He turned towards Jesse and took his hand, the two of them blinked out of existence, leaving the brothers standing in a pile of house rubble.

 

“How long do you suppose a moment is to him?” Dean asked.

 

“Could be a second, a year, or ten, I don’t know,” Sam said. “You think Jesse will be okay?”

 

“Jack called him brother, so I hope that means he’s not gonna hurt him on purpose,” Dean said.

 

“Are we waiting here for them to come back or what?” Sam asked, staring around them at the utter destruction. They didn’t even have the house to hang out in while they waited.

 

“Guess so, ’s not like he can’t find us anywhere anytime he wants. Feel like doin’ a little fishing?” Dean asked, pointing at the calm lake just past the Impala.

 

“We’re out of food, so yeah, why not? It’ll give us something to do at least,” Sam said.

 

Sam got the folding chairs and blanket out of the trunk while Dean put together their collapsible fishing rods. The remaining Slim Jim that had been too old for them to eat for breakfast would have to make do as bait. Hopefully the fish would still go for it. They got themselves situated on the small dock that was almost hidden by the rocks at the shoreline. The late morning sun was higher and stronger now, it felt good to be outside. To still be alive.

 

“Do we still need to do something with uh…Cas or Kelly’s bodies?” Sam asked. “I noticed they were gone.”

 

“No, Jack and I got it taken care of last night, when you were asleep,” Dean said, casting his line out onto the calm surface of the water.

 

“Sorry I passed out on you guys like that,” Sam said. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you. I wish you’d woken me up.”

 

“No, I’m sorry, Sam. I should have waited for you, he was your friend too,” Dean said.

 

“It wasn’t ever the same though, I know that,” Sam said. “You were always more connected.”

 

Dean didn’t say anything for a long moment, staring at the sun’s reflection on the water. “He was the best and worst friend I ever had. I mean, I’ll miss him, he’s been with us for so long. But he kept making these epically bad decisions.”

 

“We all have though,” Sam said, quickly thumbing through the very long list he carried around even though Dean had told him he’d been forgiven for it all. Self-forgiveness was not a Winchester trait and they both knew that.

 

“Yeah but yours were not on the same level, he undid everything you sacrificed for, Sammy. Letting Lucifer go free was his decision, and then this whole nephilim thing came as a result of that. I don’t think I’ll ever understand that one. Maybe he just didn’t get enough of a chance to explain it to us, but we’ll never know now.”

 

“I think it’s hard for us to remember he was an angel, and he had a whole different way of thinking, I don’t think we ever really understood him or his reasons for doing things. I was glad he was our friend, even if he did things an enemy would do sometimes.”

 

Dean snorted, “Yeah, I could say the same about Crowley I guess.”

 

“He sacrificed himself for us, for the world. To keep Lucifer stuck there in that place. I can’t believe he actually did that,” Sam said, remembering what Crowley had said as they’d done the spell to trap Lucifer.

 

“Yeah, you think you really know a guy,” Dean joked, tugging at the line that had started reeling out.

 

“You think Mom is okay in there?” Sam finally managed to ask, to say the words they hadn’t yet managed to say out loud.

 

Dean sighed, which either meant he was glad Sam had broached the subject or that he didn’t want to talk about it. “No idea, hopefully she’s found the Bobby from there and is kicking Lucifer’s ass all over the place,” Dean said.

 

“Jack asked me if I wanted them to come back here into our world. I told him yes on mom, no on his dad. That was when you first came in the room I think.”

 

“Wonder if he can do something like that, bring her back?” Dean asked, playing out a little more line to make sure the fish was hooked.

 

“If he opens up that rip again, who knows what would come through into our world. It’s reminding me of that Stephen King story, The Mist. Or even what Professor Visayak told us about sneaking through into our world from Purgatory.”

 

“It’s all above our pay-grade, you know? I’m just a hunter, how the hell am I supposed to deal with all this?”

 

“We have been for a while now, Dean. I mean, you just played relationship counselor to God and his sister a few months ago, right?”

 

“Don’t like it though, I’d rather stick to ghosts and vamps, a demon now and then, throw in the occasional zombie, I’m good.” Dean reeled in his line and pouted when he saw the hook was empty. He threaded on one of the last bits of Slim-Jim.

 

“I don’t think we have to like it, but it still comes down to us. Chuck told us the world was in our hands when he left. I’m pretty sure this is the kind of thing he was talking about,” Sam said.

 

“Okay, so if we’re making decisions about the world now, is Jack a good guy or what?” Dean asked, casting his line out again.

 

“Unclear, it seems like he could go either way and he’s very impressionable. Maybe because he’s so new? But he believed us about Lucifer’s plans being bad for the world, he seemed to get that, so as long as no one comes along and tells him differently, I guess he’s okay. We couldn’t get rid of him anyway.”

 

“No, you couldn’t,” Jack said from close behind them. Jesse laughed uproariously as Sam and Dean almost fell out of their folding chairs with the surprise. In the commotion Dean let go of the fishing rod which was swiftly pulled out into the lake and disappeared under the surface.

 

"Aw man, that was gonna be our lunch," Dean complained.

 

Jack looked out over the water and the rod slowly rose up into the air, drops sparkling in the sun, the line stretched taut. Dean reached out and grabbed the pole and began reeling in whatever was on the other end. Eventually a large trout was flopping on the boards of the dock, gasping for breath. 

 

Jack stared at the fish's struggle, seeming to be fascinated with its fight for life. "This is what you all look like when you don't want to die, because you don't know what lies beyond," he said in a flat monotone.

 

Jesse looked at Sam and Dean and shook his head minutely, indicating that they shouldn't answer or interrupt Jack.

 

"It is for beings like my brother and I to know this, and not for you or the other living things on this planet. You must live your lives to their ends, without the certainty of the next step."

 

Jesse spoke up then, "Jack, remember what we were talking about, right? Don't spoil the story for them, okay?"

 

"Yes, brother, I remember," Jack said, still staring at the fish who now lay there, dead and unmoving. He poked at it with one sneakered toe. 

 

Sam held back a sigh of relief when he heard Jack call Jesse his brother again. Then he realized that Jack now wore clothing that actually fit him, not the oversized stuff they'd loaned him from their duffels. He seemed taller now too, more filled out and stronger looking, but his hair was still short. _How did that work_ , Sam wondered, _being able to grow some parts of oneself but not the others._ Hopefully it meant that Jack had more control over his powers which could only be a good thing.

 

"We're glad you guys came back, everything go okay?" Sam asked Jesse.

 

Jesse smiled at Sam's worry. "Yeah, we're cool, Sam. He's got it under control now, right, Jack?"

 

Jack looked up at them then, searching, cataloging with those strange eyes. Sam felt like he'd had an x-ray of his emotions and body at the same time. Dean bumped their hips together, which meant he'd felt it too.

 

"Control is an illusion of course, but yes, Jesse pointed out to me that humans need the illusion to be as real as possible, so here we are."

 

"Jack, can I ask you something?" Sam asked, trying not to sound as hesitant as he really felt.

 

Jack didn't answer but nodded, still distracted by the fish.

 

"When you were born, what happened? Do you know how the rip or whatever it was got created?"

 

"You are asking if I can bring your mother back to you?" Jack asked.

 

"Yes, that too, but I was curious if you and Jesse had figured that out. You said something about The Balance before you left," Sam said, hoping that his honesty would help in getting an answer.

 

Jack didn't speak for a long moment, and Sam wondered if it would set him off again. "Your mother cannot be here, in this world. Amara did a great wrong to bring her here from where she was, The Balance was off, and that led to me coming here. My function is mostly to act as a counter-weight to that imbalance."

 

"Could you trade places with her?" Dean asked in a rush, excited at the idea of rescuing his mom from that hell-scape.

 

"Would you want me to?" Jack asked.

 

"Yes, I would," Dean answered honestly. "I'm sorry, but she's our mom and I'm worried about her being there."

 

"You specifically mean there, with my father, yes?" Jack asked, eyes laser focused on Dean.

 

Dean stood up straighter and squared his shoulders as if getting ready for a fight. Sam bumped his hip gently to knock him off the path of trying to provoke this endlessly powerful being.

 

"How would you eat this fish?" Jack asked, ending the conversation abruptly before Dean could say anything.

 

Dean blew out a breath and shrugged. “I can show you," Dean offered, leaning down and scooping the fish up off the dock. He wriggled the hook out of the fish's mouth and handed it to Jack. "First we have some knife work to do." 

 

Dean demonstrated the quickest way to debone and prepare the fish for cooking while Jack closely observed.  

 

"Why do you not consume the bones?" Jack asked, face wrinkled up as he took in the smell of fish blood and guts.

 

"We're too soft inside, they would hurt us," Sam said.

 

"Soft inside?" Jack asked, curious and instantly terrifying.

 

"Jack, we talked about this. People and animals, they're fragile and you can easily hurt them without even meaning to. That's why we have to always work at controlling ourselves. We don't want to kill things, not if we can avoid it. It isn't why we're here, remember?" Jesse asked, stepping forward to put a hand on Jack's shoulder and then hesitating.

 

"Brother, you can touch me if you need to, but I am in control. I am just—curious,” Jack said, a sly smile quickly passing over his face. 

 

Sam felt his stomach sink at the sight of that awful smile, reminding him so strongly of Lucifer in that moment. "Dean, maybe you can show Jack how to make a cooking fire," Sam said with a face that he hoped communicated how serious this was to Dean. He turned to face Jesse so that Jack couldn't see him, "Hey, Jesse, can I talk to you for a second?" Sam walked off the dock and towards the Impala, relieved to hear just one set of footsteps following.

 

"What's up, Sam?" Jesse asked when Sam paused at the open Impala trunk where they were hidden from Jack and Dean.

 

Speaking in a low, urgent tone, Sam asked, ”He's not quite in control of himself is he?"

 

"No, not really, I don't think he can be in control. Not yet anyway, although he is better, we worked on some stuff while we were gone. But I'm not sure what else I can do for him until he gets there himself."

 

"Do we need to do something about him?" Sam asked in a whisper.

 

"What, like kill him?" Jesse asked, in an indignant tone. "You can't, you know."

 

“So he's immortal?” Sam asked.

 

"Something like that, yeah, and so am I, in case you get any ideas,” Jesse said.

 

“We wouldn’t do that—wait, how do you know that you’re not immortal—oh no, Jesse, really?" Sam asked as he realized what that admission meant. Jesse had tried and failed to kill himself at some point, probably more than one time. Probably because he’d been so scared, left alone and desperate.

 

"Takes one to know one, right, Sam?" Jesse answered with a wry grin.

 

Sam lowered his head, ashamed at how Jesse could so easily know his deepest darkest secret, the one that not even Dean really knew. "Don't tell Dean, please," Sam said.

 

"I won't, don't worry. I'm glad though, that you've been there, so you know what it's like," Jesse said. "Dean does too, as you know."

 

"Yeah, I do, but I try not to think about it too much. Both of us do that, so we can keep going," Sam admitted.

 

"You ever think about just not?” Jesse asked.

 

"What, quitting or dying?" Sam asked.

 

Jesse laughed at Sam’s question. ”Quitting, pretty sure dying is off the table for you two, maybe not forever, but for let's say, the long haul."

  
Sam couldn’t respond at all, his mind had gone blank with the thought of being semi-immortal. Maybe that was what Chuck had meant, that he was leaving the world in their hands.

 

“Sam, the best thing to do right now, is keep Jack calm. And as far as I could see, you were doing pretty well at that. He’s just got to learn our side of things, Lucifer was talking to him the whole time he was growing inside of his mother, filling his head with lies about humans that we need to correct.”

 

“Sounds like a pretty tall order, keep a nephilim on the straight and narrow until he learns enough to know that’s where he needs to be himself,” Sam said.

 

“If anyone can do it, it’s you and Dean,” Jesse said. “Who better than the _zizop saisch_ , right?”

 

“You’ve been learning Enochian, huh?” Sam asked.

 

“Kinda had to, when Jack really gets going, that’s his go-to language,” Jesse said.

 

“Where should we go?” Sam asked.

 

“I think we oughta stay here for a while,” Dean said, joining them at the edge of the trunk. He reached in and grabbed their portable kitchen kit and walked back to Jack at the fire.

 

Sam looked at where Dean had pointed and was astonished to see the house standing there, in one piece, looking freshly painted, windows sparkling with the reflected sunlight from the lake. The tree that had been knocked over was back to shading half of the house. It was beautiful here. “You’re going to stay with us, I hope?” Sam asked.

 

“I’ll hang for a while, sure. Not like there’s anywhere else I’ve got to be that’s this exciting,” Jesse said with a smile.

 

They shut the Impala’s trunk and joined Dean and Jack at the fire, just in time to see Jack reach in and take the fish off the spear. He yelped when he felt the heat of it on his fingers and tossed it onto the paper plate Dean held out. Jack stuck his fingers into his mouth like any human kid would and Dean laughed. “Sam, you did the same damn thing, first time we had a cookout with Dad.”

 

“I did?” Sam asked.

 

“Yeah, and you were carrying on, yelling so much, Dad had to get the marshmallows out and let you hold the bag so you’d stop.”

  
“Is that when you told me the wendigo story that scared me to death?” Sam asked with what he knew was a fond, sappy smile on his face. Any time Dean made mention of their shared childhood was always worth at least one of those.

 

Dean obviously took note of Sam’s smile and returned it in his own way.

 

“You guys haven’t changed a bit, I see,” Jesse said.

 

“What do you mean?” Jack asked. “It has been many years that you haven’t seen them.”

 

“They were the same, the way they act together hasn’t changed. It’s cute is all,” Jesse said.

 

“Yes, the _saisch_ who are _zizop_ and also _nor-quashi_. The two who are one,” Jack said with a dreamy sound to his voice as he stared intently at Sam and Dean, especially concentrating on the space between them. He gestured at that space until Jesse stared into it as well.

 

“It is beautiful, Jack. I see what you mean,” Jesse said.

 

“What the hell are you guys even talking about?” Dean asked, sounding exasperated, looking into the empty space between he and Sam.

 

“It is as I described before, the connection between you, it is visible to both of us. You called it soul-mates I believe,” Jack said.

 

“Soul-mates, huh, that makes sense now. When I look at people I can either just see them like any human would or I can see what I think people call auras. Everyone has their own color that surrounds them. It sounds kinda woo-woo or whatever, but it’s definitely there. And yours are…well, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jesse said, sounding a little awed.

 

“Can you describe it, so we can picture it?” Sam asked, rubbing his shoulder against Dean’s. There was something about this chance to have these two special beings validate their soul-mate-hood that was making his heart beat faster.

 

“The colors that each of you have aren’t quite separate but they don’t blend either, they kind of twine together and it stretches finer and finer the further you separate. But when you stand next to each other like that, it’s almost all entwined around you, like a shield of woven vines or wires.”

 

“Impenetrable, a shield like no other, one strong enough to withstand even my father,” Jack said, nodding in agreement.

 

Dean looked up at Sam then, and Sam’s heart beat faster at the look on his face. The love and adoration that was always there, always between them, but hardly ever shown so nakedly, certainly not in front of other people. Sam gathered his brother into his arms, because he needed it, they both did.

 

“They can see what we feel, Sammy,” Dean whispered into his neck.

 

“Pretty cool, huh?” Sam murmured into Dean’s ear.

 

“Love you, little brother,” Dean said, kissing Sam quickly while Sam’s hair covered them.

 

“Love you too, big brother,” Sam said, realizing they’d never said it to each other, not like that, using the big and little brother terms. It meant something more than just that of course, it always did which is maybe why they so rarely said it. Usually it meant someone was dying. Hopefully that wasn’t on the schedule today.

 

“You two need a little alone time?” Jesse teased.

 

“No, we need to eat some of this fish now that it’s cooled off a bit,” Dean said, striding over to Jack and tearing off a piece of the fish to toss in his mouth. Sam took a piece too and they watched as Jesse encouraged Jack to try some like they were.

 

“It is good, yes, I like this,” Jack said after he’d finished his portion.

 

“Wait until you try Dean’s hamburgers,” Sam said with a proud smile. He was happy to see Dean take the praise as intended.

 

“Hamburgers?” Jack asked.

 

“You’ll like ‘em dude, don’t worry,” Jesse assured him.

 

“So, I saw you re-made the house, Jack. Is the fridge stocked with beer by any chance?” Dean asked after he finished chewing his fish.

 

Jesse held up a finger to stop Dean from speaking further. “Jack, what’s in the house?”

 

“Everything we’ll need, from what you showed me while we were gone, Jesse,” Jack answered.

 

That didn’t answer the beer question, but the brothers needed to check it out themselves. As they walked into the house together, Dean muttered, “So, we’re gonna what, play ‘My Two Dads’ for a while?”

 

“Looks like it, is there another option you can think of?” Sam asked, closing the door behind them. The house was spotless, completely reformed, even down to the Slim-Jim wrapper art that Jack had made earlier on the kitchen table. Dean opened the fridge and chuckled at one shelf being entirely full of Del Sol.

 

“Hey, if he keeps us in beer, I’m all good with it,” Dean joked.

 

Sam stumbled as he entered the kitchen and Dean caught him around the waist.

 

“Whoah there, Sasquatch, easy now.” Dean maneuvered Sam to sit at the kitchen table. “You just swooning from low blood sugar or something else?”

 

Sam’s stomach growled noisily, surprising them both into small laughs. “Yeah, guess I’m finally hungry.”

 

“It’s been a while since you ate anything,” Dean said. He opened the fridge to grab some sandwich fixings and bustled around arranging them on plates and cutting them with a sharp knife. The kitchen was perfectly stocked, like something out of a lifestyle catalog. Everything brand-new and shiny, clean and organized. “Jack thought of everything, guess Jesse showed him the right places.”

 

“Lucky for us he didn’t just park him at McDonald’s,” Sam said, smiling as Dean placed a plate in front of him. He’d eaten half his sandwich before Dean returned with two beers, opening them with a fancy bottle top opener screwed into the wall with a little bucket underneath to catch the metal tops. 

 

“Look at this thing, we gotta get one of these for the bunker,” Dean said, pointing back behind him at the opener on the wall. 

 

Sam looked where Dean was pointing and his eyes widened as he saw who was standing in the doorway. “Jody?”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slight delay in posting, real life had other plans for me the last couple days. Back on track as of today, but unfortunately I will finish posting a day or so after that great season premiere. And fyi, honestly, I've fallen pretty hard for Jack, so will likely keep the story going longer than I'd originally planned.  
> ****

_“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”_

_―_ [ _Washington Irving_ ](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/28525.Washington_Irving)

****

“Uh, hey guys,” Jody said, stepping into the kitchen.

 

“What are you—how are you even here?” Dean asked, practically spluttering in his surprise. He was happy to see her of course, but instantly worried about why the hell she was showing up here of all places.

 

“The nephi-dude, whatever the heck he’s called, Jack showed up at my house and said you guys needed me. And then—bam, here I am. Are you guys okay?”

 

“And you just went with him?” Dean demanded. “Are the girls all right?” Dean’s stomach sank at the thought of something happening to Jody’s girls. He couldn’t take it if Jack had done something to them.

 

“The girls are fine, they didn’t even get a chance to see Jack. I went with him because—well, he didn’t seem like the kinda guy I could ignore, or that would take a no for an answer. What’s his deal? He seems new or something,” Jody said, sitting down at the kitchen table across from Sam.

 

“Yeah, he was literally born yesterday, or maybe the day before, I forget what day it even is,”

 Dean said as he pulled another beer out of the fridge and used the fancy opener on the wall, catching himself smiling at the tink-tink of the bottle top falling into the container.

 

“Whoah, okay then, it all makes a little more sense. I thought he might have been a demon or even an angel, but I didn’t get a chance to ask,” Jody said, accepting the beer from Dean.

 

“Jack is somewhere in-between, he’s a nephilim, the result of the union of a human woman with Lucifer, who is a fallen archangel which is also pretty close to a demon on the scale of things,” Sam said.

 

“So where’s his mom then?” Jody asked.

 

“She’s…uh, dead,” Sam said.

 

“I see, so what is it that he thought you guys needed me for?” Jody asked.

 

“We have absolutely no idea. He’s a little new at the whole communicating with humans thing. But he’s wicked smart and very powerful as you just got to experience first-hand. What exactly did he say to you, do you remember?” Dean asked.

 

“Of course I do, I’m a cop, it’s part of the job. Problem is I remember what he said, but I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. He said the _saisch_ who are _zizop_ , needed _exentaser aziazor,”_ Jody said pronouncing each unfamiliar word very carefully _. "_ What the hell kind of language is that anyway?”

 

“It’s Enochian, the language of the angels. He said Dean and I needed the love of a mother? He didn’t say that he needed one himself?” Sam asked.

 

“Well, I think he said you guys needed one, and he didn’t include himself. But you two have a mom already, where’s Mary?” Jody asked, looking from Sam to Dean during the awkward pause that ensued.

 

“She’s…uh, that’s pretty hard to explain,” Sam said, looking at Dean with eyes wide with worry. 

 

Dean crossed his arms across his chest tightly and looked down at the table, lips pressed into a thin white line. He found he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud, saying the answer would make it all real instead of the surreal nightmare it really was.

 

“When Jack was born, the power or whatever it was ripped a hole between our world and another alternative one. She’s stuck in there,” Sam said.

 

“With Lucifer,” Dean mumbled into his chest, not wanting to talk about this or even think about it. It drove him crazy not to be able to do anything about their mom being stuck.

 

“What the hell?” Jody asked.

 

“It’s messed up, we already know. Oh and on the way out, Lucifer killed Cas,” Dean practically growled.

 

Jody reached out across the table and patted Dean’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, that must be…no I know how hard this kind of crap is. God, you guys have dealt with so much of this shit over the years. And Mary just got back here, I’m real sorry boys.”

 

They both nodded in unison, thanking her silently. Dean found himself too choked up with gratefulness to speak. He was so glad that they had Jody here at this moment, not that she was a replacement for mom or anything. But she did fill that role of someone who cared about them no matter what, a very rare thing in their lives.

 

“Jesse was telling me to remember that Jack can read our minds, but that he still isn’t good at figuring out the real meaning of things in human context. A little bit ago we were talking about how were missing Mom and worrying about her where she’s stuck. I’m guessing he was trying to fix things for us as well as he could, because he can’t bring Mom back to us, at least until we figure it out. So he brought us…the closest person in our minds,” Sam said, smiling with still grim eyes at Jody.

 

Jody smiled back at him and squeezed Dean’s shoulder and Sam’s hand. “Well, I’m here for you guys, of course I am.”

 

“Jody, we should tell you, in the other place, we met that world’s Bobby,” Dean said, remembering how his heart had been so overjoyed that he got to hear that gruff voice again.

 

Jody’s eyes flashed with pain and she couldn’t look at either of them for a long moment, staring down into the depths of her beer. “And what was he like there?”

 

“He was a badass angel hunter of course. That world was fucked-up,” Dean said with a grin at the image of Bobby in desert camo and his angel killing gun. “But Bobby was kicking it in the ass.”

 

“Dean—language!” Jody said with a wink. “Hey, c’mon if I’m temporarily filling in for your mom I pretty much had to.”

 

They heard the front door open and two sets of footsteps approached.

 

“Jesse, come on in here and meet our friend, Jody Mills,” Sam said, leaning back in his chair so he see down the hallway.

 

Jesse entered the kitchen alone and stood next to Sam. “Hey, Jody, it’s nice to meet you. You’re a sheriff right?” He quickly shook Jody’s hand over the table.

 

“Yes, that’s right, I am. Why are you asking?” Jody asked.

 

“Jack, he uh, doesn’t know about our laws and crimes, or schedules that people who work have to keep. And I just wanted to tell you, he wants to learn, pretty much everything, like all at once. And he’s sorry if you get in trouble for missing work now that he knows that’s a thing.”

 

“Well, thanks for explaining that, Jesse. And Jack’s in luck, this was my scheduled three-day weekend, so no problem there. He gave me time to leave a note, so my girls won’t go searching for me.”

 

Jack lurked in the doorway, a curious look of hesitance on his face, his hands behind his back. Jesse motioned him forward and turned to speak to the brothers. “Jack wanted to know if he did a good thing for you, bringing Jody here. I told him I wasn’t sure.”

 

“Well, we’re always glad to get to see Jody. But, it would have been better to ask us first,” Sam said, trying to speak clearly.

 

“Is she not the mother-substitute that I saw in your minds?” Jack asked, eyes narrowing as he examined each brother closely, almost as if he was checking their minds again.

 

“She is, you’re right about that, Jack. And you’re also right that we’re sad that our mother is gone in the other world,” Dean said.

 

“My own mother is dead, not just gone. I saw in your minds that you had a substitute in this world, in Jody. I thought I could, what is it called? Share, I could learn to share her—with you,” Jack said, looking closely at Jody as she sat frozen between the brothers at the table.

 

Jody looked a little worried, almost panicked really at Jack’s strange words. 

 

“It’s okay, Jody, really,” Sam said in his calming voice.

 

“You use that voice so well, Sam,” Jack said, smiling that eerie smile that reminded Sam of his  worst memories of Lucifer in and out of the cage.

 

“It works on both man and beast,” Dean said proudly, trying to get Jack’s attention to pull away from Sam.

 

Jack’s eyes swiveled over to Dean and he squirmed under the close examination until Jack spoke, “Jody is not in any danger from me, I swear it.”

 

“Okay, Jack, that’s good to hear. I’m glad I got a free trip to visit the boys here, and meet you and Jesse,” Jody interrupted in her trying-to-put-on-a-happy-face voice.

 

Jack turned to look at her and slowly smiled. “I am happy that you are happy, Jody. Tell me about the girls you left the note for at your house.”

 

“Alex, she’s in her last year of high school, looking forward to graduation in the spring. She wants to do a biology degree in college, with an emphasis in blood studies. She came to me after a thing with vampires. And Claire is the daughter of the man who the Winchester’s angel friend, Castiel used as a vessel. He possessed Claire briefly to bargain with him. She’s training to be a hunter, which is—uh, a challenging thing to get used to as a mom.“

 

“So what’s your story, Jesse?” Jody asked in the subsequent lull in the conversation that left them all peeling at their bottle labels. “No one ever said where you fit in with this motley crew.”

 

“I’m kind of like Jack I guess. I’m half-human, but my father was a demon. I never knew my birth mother, but my adoptive parents were great people. I met the Winchesters back when I was eleven. And my life has pretty much never been the same since then.”

 

“Sorry about that, Jesse,” Sam said. “Seems like we’re always around when people are going through their worst day.”

 

“Worst day? Yeah, almost getting killed by an angel, being told I’m the freaking antichrist, seeing a demon almost kill my birth mother and then having to leave my sleeping parents without even an idea of why the hell I left. Worst is an understatement.”

 

“Why did they not offer you help?” Jack asked in the silence that followed Jesse’s outburst.

 

“We did, we were there waiting for him to come downstairs and go with us, we had a place in mind for him and a person who would have helped raise him. But he disappeared on us. Dean and I always wished it all had happened differently, you really didn’t deserve that, Jesse.”

 

Jesse seemed to swallow down his excess emotions and steady himself, he acknowledged Sam’s words with a nod.

 

“Was that Bobby by any chance that you were going to bring him to?” Jody asked.

 

“Yeah, we thought the old coot would have done right by Jesse. He did okay with us,” Dean said.

 

“He sure did,” Jody said. “He always bragged about you guys, just a like a dad would.”

 

Both brothers smiled at that but didn’t say anything. Dean felt the spot where he kept his Bobby memories warm up just a little bit more with Jody’s comment. 

 

“So where did you go, when you left, Jesse?” Jody asked.

 

“The first place I went was Australia, it was on my mind since I’d just done a school report on it. I wanted to get far away, to keep my parents safe, to escape what was coming after me. I thought about one of the beaches I had a picture of really hard and just wished myself there. It was pretty wild at first, figuring out what I could do. The hardest thing was convincing grown-ups it was okay I was on my own.”

 

“You had an advantage in that you led a human life for eleven years,” Jack said.

 

“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” Dean said. “You’re doing pretty damn well, Jack.”

 

“I am doing well? I am doing well at what?” Jack asked.

 

“At learning all the human stuff, and keeping your power under control. It must be really hard to do both at the same time,” Sam said.

 

“Thank you, Sam. I am doing my best, I do not want to hurt any of you,” Jack said.

 

“That’s good to know,” Dean said.

 

“Jack, I’m curious what you’ve got behind your back?” Sam asked.

 

Jack took his hand out from behind his back and held out a string of fish of various sizes and types. “Surprise, Jesse and I tried fishing.”

 

“Guess I know what we’re having for dinner tonight,” Dean said.

 

“Know any good ways to fix up this much fish at once, Jody?” Sam asked.

 

“I’d say a good old fashioned fish-fry would be the way to go,” Jody said.

 

Dean rubbed his stomach in anticipation. “We haven’t had a real fish fry since we were out in South Carolina. Remember that place, Sam? It was in someone’s front yard, a trailer all set up for cooking. The fish was good, but it was all the stuff on the sides, ahhh those potato pancakes.”

 

“What do we need to make a fish-fry?” Jack asked.

 

“Instead of you manifesting it all here, how about we go out to the store for it? It’s part of the fun of making a big meal,” Sam said. “You want to come with us, Jody?”

 

Jody nodded and stood up, cracked her back and finished her beer.

 

Jack also nodded with a small non-creepy smile on his face. It was the most he’d smiled since they’d known him, Sam thought that was probably a good thing. “Is this another human lesson?”

 

“I guess so, yeah. You can see how to drive to town and shop in a store,” Sam said, finishing off his beer. He stood up and took his plate and bottle to the sink. “Thanks for the sandwich, Dean.” 

 

Dean could tell Sam wanted to give him a kiss or hug or something, but Jody was there. And they weren’t sure if she knew about them, and they hadn’t been brave or stupid enough to bring it up with her. He was pleased when Sam settled for putting his hands on Dean’s shoulders and giving him a double pat.

 

Dean leaned back against Sam’s stomach briefly, knowing just that contact said thank you. They’d long had to make do with these kinds of subtle communications. He handed Sam the keys and looked at him upside down. He had to restrain himself not to pull him down and kiss him on those perfect lips.

 

“You’re not bringing the fish with us in the car, Jack. Pretty sure Dean wouldn’t ever get over that. Why don’t you stick them in the sink for now? While we’re gone, Dean and Jesse can prep them for frying,” Jody said.

 

Dean smiled at being given such a mom directive, and he internally thanked Jack again for bringing Jody to them at this tough time. Having her around was going to make it a little easier for Sam, and maybe himself too.

 

“You ever gutted a fish yourself, Jesse?” Dean asked as they left.

 

***

 

“You take shotgun, Jack,” Jody said, pointing at the front passenger seat.

 

“That means riding next to the driver,” Sam said, starting up the car.

 

“This is the seat you usually have,” Jack said, squirming around in the front passenger seat. “It is shaped to fit you.”

 

“Yeah, Dean’s the one who likes driving the most, so I let him do it unless he’s falling asleep on a long drive,” Sam said. “Put your seatbelt on, like this,” Sam said, showing Jack how to pull it across his body and click it closed.

 

Once the doors were closed Sam took off with a big rooster-tail of gravel and dust that would probably piss Dean off, but it very much impressed Jack going by his enormous grin.

 

Jack watched every movement Sam was making as he drove, Sam tried to talk him through the details of driving. As he went through the spiel, he vaguely remembered both his father and Dean giving him the same instructions.

 

“I like this machine,” Jack said, as Sam sped up down the two-lane road along the lake’s edge.

 

“It’s like our home, my dad raised us in here, on the road. It was the only place we had that was ours for a very long time.”

 

“This car talks, I can almost hear it telling me the memories. This was where you and Dean first had sex,” Jack said.

 

“Excuse me?” Jody asked from the back seat. “Jack, that might me a little tmi, too much information.”

 

Jack turned to look at Jody, head tilted in curiosity. “I’m sorry, did you not know? I just assumed you did, that everyone who met the _saisch_ who are _nor-quashi_ would know, as it is so obvious,” Jack said, sounding very confused.

 

Jody didn’t say anything until they stopped in the parking lot of a small grocery store. Once the engine noise died down she cleared her throat. “You should have told me, Sam. I mean, I thought we were friends,” Jody said, sounding very sad.

 

Sam turned around to face her, stomach convulsing with dread, he was desperate not to lose her, they needed her in their lives. “I wanted to tell you, Jody, I really did. But I promised Dean I wouldn’t. He didn’t want to risk losing you,” Sam said. “I tried to convince him that you wouldn’t cut us out if you knew about us. But we’ve never been able to be honest with people who know us. He knew you meant too much to me. Just being the protective ass he always is.”

 

“Sam, I pretty much always knew. Bobby filled in a couple gaps for me. I tried a couple times to bring it up so you guys could drop the act in front of me. But I could tell you didn’t want to go there. I’m glad it’s out in the open now,” Jody said. “I know enough hunters now that it’s just—not even really that weird.”

 

Sam waited until she got out of the back seat then he wrapped her up in a big hug. “Thank you, for understanding, Jody. I don’t think…”

 

“I get it Sam, I love you guys, no matter what,” Jody said with that motherly ferocity they’d finally heard from their own mother just the other night. Before she’d gone after Lucifer with those angel-knocking brass knuckles.

 

“Have I made a good thing happen with tmi?” Jack asked, watching them over the car roof with concern and hope.

 

Sam let Jody go and stepped back a bit, he looked at her and smiled. It was weird, but he felt lighter inside, not having to carry the weight of the lie anymore. And getting to experience some unconditional love on top of it. Not a bad day’s work for Jack and his tmi. “Yeah, you did good, kid,” Sam said, smiling at Jack.

 

“Sam, what is that on your face? No—now it is gone,” Jack asked, flustered and alarmed.

 

Sam touched his face with both hands and heard Jody giggle.

 

“I think he means your dimples, Sam,” Jody said.

 

“Oh, yeah, it’s actually a defect where the muscle is adhered internally to the skin, so when I smile, it makes that indentation which is called a dimple. Some humans have them, some don’t,” Sam said.

 

“Yours are beautiful, Sam. Because they mean you are smiling,” Jack said.

 

“Something we don’t get to see nearly enough of that is for damn sure,” Jody said. “Now, let’s get in there and get shopping. Those fish aren’t going to fry themselves, much less prepare any side dishes.”

 

***

After they got done with the messy task of preparing all the fish and got themselves cleaned up, Jesse went upstairs to poke around. Dean heard a woman’s voice speaking loudly, and realized it was Kelly’s. He ran upstairs, worried that her spirit had appeared to haunt them and burst into the nursery where Jesse was sitting in the rocking chair holding a tablet. He walked over and saw the video Kelly had recorded before giving birth. The woman might have been deluded by Satan himself, or who knows maybe she was right. He sure hoped it was Cas and Kelly who turned out to be the best futurists.

 

When the video finished, Dean leaned against the crib which wobbled a bit and then slowly fell apart into a pile of wood pieces. Dean found the Ikea instructions and laughed a little, trying to picture Cas and Kelly trying to put the thing together.

 

“She really loved him didn’t she?” Jesse asked.

 

“Yeah, she did, and I guess she really believed in all that awesome future for mankind stuff too. Sure hope she’s right about that.”

 

“Maybe seeing this would help push him onto the right way of seeing things. You know, his mother loving him enough to sacrifice herself for him to be born. Hearing her say what she expects him to be able to do for the world,” Jesse said.

 

“You really think that would help?” Dean asked.

 

“Yeah, it would. The things my birth mother told me, that day I met you guys. They stayed with me, and the stuff you guys said too. It kept me from going over to the dark side, which was plenty tempting a lot of times.”

 

“I bet it was, I think you’re pretty damn awesome, kid. Doing that all on your own was no easy thing,” Dean said.

 

“Thanks, it’s been hard, growing up on my own. I really miss my parents. I send them an anonymous postcard whenever I’m leaving a country. Hopefully they know they’re from me. I wish I could see them, even one more time.”

 

“If I ever had a chance, to be with my folks, man I’d take it, every time,” Dean said.

 

“They must hate me by now, or they’ve forgotten me,” Jesse said.

 

“I doubt that very much. They probably miss you like hell and worry about you every damn day,” Dean said, remembering every single time he’d ever been separated from Sam

 

“You really think so?” Jesse asked, looking so young in the moment, Dean’s heart ached for him. This kid had suffered unimaginable loss and come through it so strong and balanced. He could have gone wrong so easily.

 

“Yeah, I do. If Sam had disappeared at age eleven, I honestly don’t know what I would have done. It’s hard to imagine the level of hurt when someone is just gone.”

 

“Huh, I guess you were kinda Sam’s parent, I hadn’t thought about you that way. So I suppose you’d know how a parent would feel.”

 

“Sam and I, we’d go with you to see yours if you wanted us to. We could help you talk to them, help explain things.”

 

“But I don’t want to endanger them, remember? That’s why I left in the first place, why I’ve never talked to them again, except for the postcards. Hopefully those were safe enough.”

 

“You’re still worrying about demons tracking you down, right?”

 

“Yeah, and don’t forget the angels too. With how upset everything seems on both of those planes, I’m surprised they haven’t caught me by this point. I’m always on the move so that nothing can track me.”

 

“How about you come back home to the bunker with us, stay for a while. We’ll get you hooked up with some blocking wards for angels and demons. Then we can go with you, give your folks the happy news they’re getting their son back.”

 

“I don’t...I’m not trying to go back to how things were. I just want them to know that I’m ok. Does that make me a bad son?”

 

“Nah, no way, Jesse. They’ll be so proud of you, what you’ve done is amazing. Staying a good person, even though you have this tremendous power. It’s really something.”

 

“Thanks, again, Dean. That means a lot coming from you,” Jesse said.

 

*****

 

They heard the distinctive roar of the Impala as it pulled up outside, so they dropped the veering towards sappy talk to go help unload the supplies.

 

As everyone walked in, Dean held Sam back. “We found a video that Kelly made—for Jack,” Dean said in a quiet voice.

 

“Are we showing it to him?” Sam asked.

 

“Yeah, Jesse thinks it’ll help put him on the right track. He said he always remembered what we told him that day about making choices. That it helped him stay on the good side,” Dean said.

 

“That’s pretty cool to hear, that what we said back then helped Jesse. I hope it works for Jack that way too,” Sam said.

 

“Yeah, I think there’s a chance of that, but who knows with him, he’s all over the place. Seems like the last person he talks to has the most influence on him.”

 

***

Jody got Dean and Jesse started on making some potato pancakes and home-made tartar sauce then joined Jack and Sam upstairs in the nursery.

 

“Jack, there’s something we need you to see. It’s a message your mom recorded for you,” Sam said, handing Jack the tablet. “Just push that arrow button.”

 

Jack pressed it and Kelly’s voice filled the room. He listened and watched so intently Sam thought the tablet might explode from his concentration. The room began to pulse red-orange again.

 

“Jack, I know this might be upsetting, but we need you to turn it down a little please,” Sam asked in his calming voice that Jack had complimented him on earlier.

 

Jack tore his eyes away from the screen and looked up at Sam. They blazed yellow in the dim room and Jody gasped with surprise.

 

“I didn’t know she…” Jack trailed off and bowed his head, the power in the room seemed to dial back down to normal levels.

 

“She really loved you a whole lot, kid,” Jody said. “But I think you already knew that.”

 

Jack looked at her and nodded slowly. “I did know that, yes, Jody.”

 

“What she said, about you making a better world for us, that’s what our angel friend believed too, it’s why he was went against us to help your mother,” Sam said.

 

Jack’s eyes clouded up with tears and he nodded slowly again but obviously was too upset to speak.

 

“You want us to leave you alone?” Jody asked, standing up from her crouch near the rocking chair.

 

“Yes, please,” Jack said. “Thank you for showing this to me.”

 

Sam and Jody left the room and closed the door behind them. They could hear Kelly’s voice as Jack restarted the video.

 

“You think he’s going to be okay?” Jody asked.

 

“I have no freaking clue, but I hope so,” Sam said as they walked down the stairs.

 

****

The kitchen was filled with noise and light and so many great smells, it was almost too good to be true, Dean thought, smiling as he sat at the table taking a break with a beer watching Jody show Sam how to cook the right kind of beans for a fish fry. Since it wasn’t a meat dish, Sam was of course all over it.

 

“Hey—uh, guys—Jack’s gone,” Jesse said at the kitchen doorway, eyes a little wild with worry. “I think he got upset about seeing his mom on the video.”

 

“I thought you went up there to check on him,” Dean said, his stomach tightening with dread, the kid had gone Lucifer Junior earlier than he’d been expecting.

 

“I did, and when I got there, he was talking too fast in Enochian to himself for me to make out what he was saying. And then he just poofed out,” Jesse said.

 

“What makes you think he was upset about the video?” Dean asked.

 

“Ever since you showed it to him, he was doing this vibration thing that I think only I could feel since none of you mentioned it. I could feel it even downstairs, it was weird, it wasn’t something I’d felt before.”

 

“We saw him cry this morning, and he almost did when we showed him the video just now. Did you see him showing emotion like that before he left?” Sam asked.

 

“No, I didn’t see any tears, nothing like that. I think the vibration was him trying to keep his emotions in check,” Jesse said.

 

“Gee, where would he would have possibly picked that up, I wonder,” Jody snarked.

 

Dean and Sam mock-glared at her. “Hey, we were trying, okay? But it’s hard to let go of the tough-guy act all at once,” Dean said.

 

They all gasped at the sound of the Impala’s roar as she was driven away down the driveway and onto the road. Everyone dropped what they were holding and ran outside to catch a last glimpse of the dust the car’s exit had left behind.

 

“He didn’t just go poof, he stole Baby! He doesn’t even know how to drive!” Dean yelled, waving his arms wide in frustration.

 

“He was watching me really closely and asking tons of questions when I was driving to the store,” Sam said. “I gave him the rules of the road spiel that you gave me.”

 

“Oh great! So he’s going to drive like you, I’ll be lucky if she makes it back in one piece!” Dean yelled, continuing to wave his arms. Sam stepped back a few steps and didn’t try to stop him.

 

“Dean, I think you need to slow down here, take a breath or something. Just stop taking it out on Sam,” Jody said. “It’s not his fault."

 

Dean stomped off, muttering to himself. “Thanks for trying, Jody, that’s always his reaction when anything happens to the car. I know better than to take it personally by now.”

 

Jody and Jesse went back in the house and Sam stayed behind, staring out at the water. He sent his mind and thoughts and prayers out to Jack. Willing him as strongly as possible to stay good, to be good. He even prayed to Chuck to help keep Jack on the right track. That’s all they were left with at this points, thoughts and prayers that the son of Lucifer would choose to remain an ally of humanity and not its ultimate destruction.

 

*****

**Author's Note:**

> Quickie Translation of Enochian Words Used:  
> Piripsol- brightness  
> Saisch - brothers  
> Nor-Quashi - sons of pleasure  
> Zizop - vessels  
> Camilax - speak  
> il, q - thy  
> Exentaser - mother of all  
> Aziazor - love


End file.
